We've had a busy and interesting few weeks. Paul spent a week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado skiing with my father, 2 of his 
closest friends, and the son-in-law of one of the friends. I think it says 
something very nice about the relationship between my father and Paul that Dad wanted him to 
come, and Paul wanted to go. It sounds like they had a great time, although Paul seems a bit chagrined that the "old guys" had so much more stamina than he and Aaron did.While Paul was gone, Grandpa and Grandma rescued me and Sophia by letting us stay with them 4 days. I had a medical problem that made it difficult to take care of Sophia on my own, and Earl and Darla stepped in. Sophia had a wonderful weekend with them, and they seemed to 
enjoy it too, but they looked a little tired by the time I was well enough to go home. The rest of mine and Sophia's week without Daddy passed uneventfully.
enjoy it too, but they looked a little tired by the time I was well enough to go home. The rest of mine and Sophia's week without Daddy passed uneventfully. 
This past Sunday Sophia was baptised in 
our church. I am a United Methodist and 
while we 
practice infant baptism, with one thing and another, we never got quite around to doing it. So, she's almost two and we finally did it. It was a good chance for our closest family and friends to gather and have some fun. Our good friends, Christina, Peter, Miriam and Grace (who is just a few months old - in Sophia's lap above) came on Saturday. This was the first time Miriam 
and Sophia have both been old enough to really play together and they seemed to have a great time: there was a lot of 
running, shrieking, hiding under tables, and only minor bouts of disagreeing over toys. This was also Barry and Jess' first out-of-town trip with Lindsey and they all seemed to weather it quite well.
Sophia seemed to love the chance to dress up and had
lots of fun in her fancy new dress. The baptism was quite nice, our pastor, Michael Powell, is a wonderful, kind man who we quite like. In one of those coincidences that seem to happen so often in Methodism, my father knew 
Michael's wife as a child, and Dad was at camp with Michael and Anni when they met in junior high. So Michael and Anni feel quite like members of the family. The baptism gave us a further opportunity to confuse all about Sophia's name. In baptism, traditionally you give the first and middle names of the child. Sophia's middle names are "Amy" and "Wittmayer." Thus, when we baptized her "Sophia Amy Wittmayer" it probably sounded like Wittmayer is her last name, when it is "Smith" like Paul. But, what's life without some opportunities to confuse those you love?
